Process of manufacturing lacquered or protective-coated cans.



J; G. HO DGSON'. I PROCESS OF MANUFACTURING LAGQUERED 0R PROTECTIVECOATED CANS.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 26, 1907.

Patented July 25, 1911.

W (Liza 15565 m an STATES PATENT orFIoE.

JOHN G. Honesoiv, or MAYWOOD, rumors, Assrcnon TO AMERICAN oAN comrnnr,

' or NEW YORK-N. Y., A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

PROCESS OIE' MANUFACTURING LACQUERED OR PROTECTIVE-COATED CANS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 25, 1911.

Application filed June 26, 1907. Serial No. 380,875.

ing Lacquered or Protective-Coated Cans, of

which the following is a specification.

My invention relates, to the art or process of manufacturing cans havinglacquer or protective coatings on the inside to keep the iood or otherproducts within the can from direct contact with the tin plateor withthe solder upon the inside of the can at the soldered seams of jointsthereof. The ob'ect of my invention is to provld a simple and efiicientmethod or process for rapidly and cheaply manufacturing preserving canshaving their interior surfaces protected or coated with a lacquer orpreservative coating that will be dry, hard,solid and firmly adherent,innocuous and'tasteless, insoluble in vegetable or fruit acids or uices,

and which will successfully withstand, .Without injury,'-the heat of thecooking or processing step to which the cans are subjected after beingfilled, and which will also not be blistered or injured by the heat ofthe soldering operation employed in soldering or securing in place thecap which closes the filling opening in the can, and which, whileeffectually insulating or protecting the food products -in thecan fromcoming in direct contact with the tin or solder surface of the can orseam, will admit of the tin being bent or shaped as may be desiredwithout danger or rupturing 'or loosening the protective coating, whichwill impart to the interior surface of the can a hard, solid, smoothsurface finish or polish. In practicingmy invention I first swab theentire interior surface of the can with a thin film of any suitablelacquer or gum, cut or dissolved in alcohol or other equivalent volatileand inflammable solvent, this.

polish, and cause it to be firmly adherent to the interior surface ofthe can, while at the same time removing from the lacquer coating allvolatile, soluble and odoriferous matters, and thus producing overtheentire interior surface of the can a hard, dry, solid, nrmly adherent,innocuous, odorless, tasteless, insoluble and perfect sanitary andprotective coating, which I find by experiment, repeated tests andpractical use extendin over a considerable time, is-also unaffected bythe heat of any ordinary cooking or proo esslng operationto which foodproducts are subjected in preserving l'cans, or by the heat employed insoldering the cap in place which closes the mouth can.

v 01." filling opening of the The burning of the inflammable vaporsarising in and issuing from the cans' soon 7-5 after being coated withthe-liquid lacquer, I find-from experiment and practical use not onlyhas no tendency to injuriously 'afiect the finished or completedprotective coating produced 611 theinterior surface of the can, but, onthe contrary, has the result of imparting to such protective coatinggreat density and hardness, and to render it very firmly adherent to themetallic surface of the can, the burning operation}: apparently having aapanning or enameling action upon the coating, ,while' 1n nowayatfecting its continuity or the-complete covering or coat ing of thetin or solder. surfaces. of thecan.

Another great advantage of my improved process is that thecans may'havetheir interior surfaces lacquered or protective coated very rapidly andvery cheaply, as the treatment of each can may be entirely completedwithin one 'or two minutes by my process, as the ignitionof the vaporsarising in the can tends to facilitate the vaporization of the volatilematters and at the same time burns mable solvent, and then igniting thevapors arising in the can from the fresh interior lacquer coatingthereof, a hard, solid, dry,

firmly adherent and perfect and effective continuous protective coatingwould be pro duced over the entire interior surface of the can, and thatthe flame from the ignited vapors would not have the effect of'burningany-portion of the interior surface of the can bare of the lacquer orthe protective coating; but, on the contrary, leave or produce acontinuous, complete and perfect coating over the entire interiorsurface of the can.

In the accompanying drawing, forming a part of.'this specification, toenable my invention to be more readily understood and practiced by thoseskilled in the art, I have illustrated at Figure 1 a rotary chuck andswab suitable for use in practicing my invention; at Fig. 2 a vessel forcontaining the liquid lacquer, and at Fig. 3 a runway upon which freshlycoated cans may be placed and passed or rolled with their open endslowermost over. a gas jet or other flame for igniting the volatilevapors arising inr and issuing from the cans.

In the drawing A represents a trough or vessel for holding the liquidlacquer, B the rotating chuck or holder for the can C, the

interior of which is to be coated} D is an absorbent swab or padconsisting preferably of felt, or other like material clamped in asuitable holder (Z, having a handle 03 by which the swab or pad is in'serted through the filling opening G into the rotating can C held in thechuck B. The absorbent swab is first placed with its lower edge in "thelacquer trough A, and then inserted in the rotating can and its bottomedge 0? pressed in contact with the interior periphery of the rotatingcan, the swab being also reciprocated to bring its end edges .d (i incontact with the inner surfaces ofthe heads of thecan, as'the canrotates, so that the entire interior surface of the can is coated with athin film of liquid lacquer. The swab is preferably held inside the canwhile the can makes seve ral revolutions. If

preferred, instead of rotating the can, it may be held stationary andthe swab instead rotated; As soon as the can is thus coated on theinside with the liquid lacquer, it isremoved from the chuck B andplaced-on the runway F, which may preferably be somewhat inclinedtransversely, so that the open end of the can'will be lowermost, andalso inclined horizontally. 'so that the cans may roll by gravity alongthe runway past the gas jet or other flame G' to ignite the volatilevapors in and arising from the cans. In the drawing H indicates theflame or burning vapors.

By use of the term swabbing in the claims,

I wish to be understood as 'meaning the act of passing an absorbent padsaturated'with the lacquer in contact with the interior surface of thecan.

I claim 1. The improvement in the art or process of manufacturingordinary small. sheet metal preserving cans, having continuous hard,solid, firmly adherent, tasteless and odorless protective coatings onthe inside, consisting in first swabbing the interior surface of the canwith liquid lacquer containing a volatile and inflammable solvent andthereby-applying a thin, uniform and conprotective coatings on theinside, consisting in first swabbing the interior surface of the canwith liquid lacquer containing a volatile and inflammable solvent andthereby applying-a thin, uniform and continuous film of li uid lacquerover the smooth interior metallic surface of the can, and then ignitingand burning, the vapor arising in and issuing from the canby rolling thecans with their open ends lowermost over a flame,

substantially as specified.

3. The process of providing ordinary small sheet metal preserving canswith a vcontinuous hard, solid, firmly adherent, tasteless, odorless andinsoluble pro tective coating on the inside, consisting in inserting anabsorbent swab or pad adapted to engage the interior peripheral and endsurfaces of the can and impregnated with liquid lacquer within the can,then rotating one of said members in re spect to and in contact with theother and thereby applying a thin, uniform and continuous film of liquidlacquer over the smooth interior metallic surface of the can, thendrying and hardening the lacquer by igniting and burning the vaporsarising'ln and issuing from the can, substantially as specified; 1

4 4. The process of'providing ordinary small sheet metal preservingcanswith a continuous hard, solid, firmly adherent, tasteless, odor lessand insoluble protective coating on the,

inside, consisting in inserting an absorbent swab or pad adapted toengage the interior peripheral and end surfaces of the can andimpregnated with liquid lacquer within the can, then rotating the can inrespect to and in contact with the swab and thereby applying a thin,uniform and continuous film of liquid lacquer over the smooth interiormetallic surface of the can, then drying and hardening the lacquer byigniting and burning the vapors arising in and issuing from the can,substantially as specified.

5. The process of providing ordinary small sheet metal preserving canswith a continuous hard, solid, firmly adherent, tasteless, odorless andinsoluble protective coating on the inside, consisting in inserting anabsorbent swab or .pad impregnated with liquid lacquer within the can,then rotating and reciprocating the can and swab the one in respect toand in contact with the other and thereby applying a thin, uniform andcontinuous film of liquid lacquer over the smooth interior metallicsurface of the can, then drying and hardening the lacquer by ignitingand burning the vapors arising in and issuing from the can,substantially as specified.

6. The process of providing ordinary small sheet metal preserving canswith a continuous hard, solid, firmly adherent,

tasteless, odorless and insoluble protective la'cquer over the smoothinterior metallicsurface of the can, then drying and hardening thelacquer by igniting and burning the vapors arising in and issuing fromthe can, substantially as specified.

JOHN G. HODGSON.

Witnesses:

' EDMUND ADoooK,

H. M. MUNDAY.

